A Price Paid In Blood

On the very border of lost Karsk, and at the furthest extent of the
barbarian Orc horde, sits the Vale of Triosk. A bustling trade road once
wound its way through the pass cut by the river here, making this of
the few safe places to travel through the peaks marking the border
between the territories. It was here that Alderai the Fair made his last battle, but that was an age ago and the town of Triosk has been through much since then.

The pass now holds the front line against the barbarians. A wall that
is said to have been built from the bones of the dead sits between
mighty spires of pale rock in the pass itself, worn down through wind
and rain into tall, thin outcroppings with deep fissures between them -
like giant teeth in the jaw of a monster from the deep forests. This
wall and the brave schlacta who man it are all that is between Varushka
and the barbarian hordes; only the brave and the crazy venture beyond
it into lost Karsk.

The inhabitants of the vale pride themselves on being the last to
hold the line against the barbarian Orcs that overran the vales beyond,
and are rightly reverent of their schlacta, who paid a great price in
blood to stop the incursion at the pass. The eight years hence have hung
heavy over the vale; tales are still told around hearthfires of the
brave men and women who gave their lives that Varushka would not be
lost.

In recent years Triosk has grown, rebuilding and recovering,
accepting refugees fleeing from Karsk, putting down the occasional
barbarian raid, and acting as a staging point for wagon raiders heading
into the lost forests. It has close ties to the Order of the Sheaf,
Ula's Sisterhood, and the Company of the White Flame, and has built a reputation for accepting travellers
from across the Empire.

With the fall of the Empress, the Vale is marshalling its strength. Prosperity and safety is hard earned and hard won - and never is this more important than when the Empire's future is so uncertain. In Varushka, it does not pay to take anything for granted...

Varushka to brief. Work hard, play hard, and have a hell of a lot of fun.